The Golden Goggle Awards are USA Swimming’s yearly awards gala, and they’ll happen tonight in New York City. You can follow along on the USA Swimming website, which will livestream the event. Follow the link here.

RESULTS

An overwhelming majority of voters said that rookie head coach Todd Desorbowould have a more successful first season with the Virginia Cavaliers than Augie Buschwould with the Arizona Wildcats.

The poll, of course, hinges very heavily on ones definition of “more successful,” and whether that predicts an exact NCAA finish, change from last year’s NCAA finish, conference finish or just time drops and recruiting victories for each coach.

The two new head coaches will be inexorably linked this season, as their new gigs are highly-connected. Busch left Virginia to take the Arizona job, returning to his alma mater after four successful seasons in Charlottesville. Desorbo jumped from an assistant position with ACC champs NC State to fill Busch’s job at ACC rival Virginia.

Desorbo’s team will have to deal most with graduations, at least on the women’s side. Superstar Leah Smith is gone, as is powerhouse breaststroker Laura Simon and do-everything talent Kaitlyn Jones. That will make a return trip to the top 12a big ask in Desorbo’s inaugural year, but UVA does still bring back some big guns. The Cavalier men didn’t score any NCAA points, but return most of their impact swimmers.

Busch, meanwhile, will be struck hardest by outgoing transfers. It’s been a mass exodus from Tucson over the last year or so. All-American Annie Ochitwa is gone to Missouri, All-American Taylor Garcia to Michigan, the team’s top breaststroker Kennedy Lohman to Texas, IMer Grant Sanders to Florida, breaststroker Blair Bish to Missouri State and freestyler Nick Hogsed to Ohio State.

That leaves the cupboards awfully bare, and is probably the major reason why fans are more bullish on Desorbo’s program at present.

Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks voters to predict the most impactful transfer in NCAA women’s swimming this season:

Founded in 2004, A3 Performance has a history of developing quality, innovative products at a great price. A3 Performance is the fastest growing brand of competitive swimwear in the United States, driven to innovate the sport of swimming and motivated to help swimmers reach their goals. We are The Performance Swimwear Company.

The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner

Are you sure you would call Busch’s tenure at UVA successful? Were the men successful in those years? Would the women have been successful without that class of graduated srs that he did not recruit? I am not saying he wasn’t successful there, I would say last year was for the men as they showed signs of improvement, but not the previous 2-3 years, and for the women, if you only look at swimmers he recruited… would they be considered successful? I think the fact that Leah Smith has decided to stay in Cville to train this year shows that she does not attribute her success directly to Busch… it may have been, but we will see if she continues… Read more »

Vote Up8-1Vote Down Reply

1 year ago

Swimnerd

I’m surprised the number isn’t higher but again comparatively Busch had a more talented team when he arrived

Vote Up40Vote Down Reply

1 year ago

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson just can’t stay away from the pool. A competitive career of almost two decades wasn’t enough for this Minnesotan, who continues to get his daily chlorine fix. A lifelong lover of writing, Jared now combines the two passions as Senior Reporter for SwimSwam.com, covering swimming at every level.
He’s an …